A Lum Hat Wantin' a Croon

Subject: A Lum Hat Wantin' a Croon
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 30 May 99 - 09:06 PM

This song was mentioned in a thread a few days back, but it wasn't followed up. I learned it from a National Geographic recording called "Music of Scotland" that I found in the Hershey, PA public library in 1973. I taped the record but don't have the extensive liner notes, so I'd appreciate any info about the record, the artists, and the provenance of this song and others on the album. I wonder if it's one of those nonsense songs to dance tunes that is being discussed on another thread. Anyway, here is the song, and my apologies to Cuillionn or anyone else for mangling the Scots dialect.

A LUM HAT WANTIN' A CROON

The bourne was big wi' spate
And there cam' tumblin' doon
Tapsalteerie, the top o' a gate
An auld fish-hake, and a great muckle skate
And a lum hat wantin' a croon

An auld wife stood on the bank
As they cam' whirlin' by
She took a guid look, and then quoth she
"There's meat and there's raiment awa' tae the sea
And I'll hae them baith if I try."

She's grippit the brainch of a sauch
Kickit off ane o' her shoon
Stuck out her foot and it caught on the gate
And awa' she gaed wi' the great muckle skate
And the lum hat wantin' a croon

She's floated for mony a mile
Past cottage and village and toon
She'd an awfy time on top o' the gate
But it seemed tae 'gree fine wi' the great muckle skate
And the lum hat wantin' a croon

A fisher was walkin' his deck
By the licht o' his pipe in the moon
When he saw an auld biddy astride o' a gate
Come bobbin' along on the waves wi' a skate
And a lum hat wantin' a croon

"There's a man o'erboard," cried he
"Ye liar," said she, "I'll droon!"
"A man on a boat? It's a wife on a gate
It's auld Libby MacIntosh here wi' a skate
And a lum hat wantin' a croon"

Was she nippit tae death at the Pole?
Has India bakit her broon?
I cannae say that, but whatever her fate
I'll wager you'll find it was shared wi' a skate
And a lum hat wantin' a croon

There's a moral attached tae my sang
On greed ye should aye gie the froon
When ye think of the wife who was lost wi' the gate
The auld fish-hake and the great muckle skate
And the lum hat wantin' a croon

(Dick and Susan and others, my lum hat is off to you for all the typing you do to keep the DT in shape. Whew!)

Subject: RE: A Lum Hat Wantin' a Croon
From: Barry Finn
Date: 31 May 99 - 01:19 AM

I believe Archie Fisher did the "Highlander's Lament" on the same LP. A friend had a tape of what I think is the same LP years ago & that was one I learned from it. Don't remember much more about except it was pretty good collection. Barry

Subject: RE: A Lum Hat Wantin' a Croon
From: Murray on Salt Spring
Date: 31 May 99 - 04:25 AM

Check back to a thread beginning 23rd January '99, where I give my words and we get some variants.

Subject: RE: A Lum Hat Wantin' a Croon
From: John Moulden
Date: 31 May 99 - 08:55 AM

Reference: David Rorie MD: The Lum hat wantin' the croon and other poems (Edinburgh and London, Moray Press, 1935. In the preface Rorie says "... I wrote the song one fine summer night nearly forty-five years ago in an English manufacturing town, ... " He says he made the tune himself. He is not specific about its first publication but refers to it having been sung during the Boer war and having been published in the British Students' Song Book." He gives eight stanzas.

Subject: RE: A Lum Hat Wantin' a Croon
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 02 Jun 99 - 07:04 PM

Thanks, John. Sorry I missed your thread. It's one of my favorite fun songs. And to find out it was written by a fellow physician! I'm always amazed by the wealth of information that's out there in Mudcatland -- like going to a song circle with an ever-changing collection of well-informed and enjoyable folkies. I only wish we had live audio!